Elara Vale loved him. Rowan Ashcroft lost him. They meet for the first time at his funeral. Bound by the same absence, they find comfort in the one person who remembers him the same way-real, unfinished, and painfully human. What begins as shared grief slowly turns into something neither of them is ready to name. This is a story about love after loss. About guilt, quiet moments, and the kind of connection that feels wrong before it feels right. fem oc x male oc ✧ content warnings ✧ death & grief emotional distress sexual content